What You Wish For
by Sprouse
Summary: Zack and Cody, aged 14 get in an argument at breakfast. Cody refuses to speak to Zack during the school day and doesn't sit at his table which is located at the exit of the cafeteria during lunch. That was Cody's biggest mistake...
1. Chapter 1: Dodgin

First chapter by anyrandomtuesday, rest by Denise D'Penha

Zack: Dodgin' Bullets

"Zack, where's my Chemistry homework?" Cody asked me as he entered the room to the Suite at the Tipton that we lived at. I had taken his homework after he'd fallen asleep the night before so I could get the answers right, my mom was bugging me that I needed to pull my grades up or I'd never graduate from Cheever's High-I nearly get held back in eighth grade, and she had to make a huge deal about it ever since. It had become a nightly thing with me, and I lied to the teachers saying Cody was "tutoring" me. He didn't even know about it, and yeah, I knew one day it would blow up in my face.

"Why would I have it?" I scoffed at him, even though I was really wondering what I had done with Cody's paper. I stared hard at my oatmeal-yeah, our mom made us eat healthy after the hotel staff took a blood test and learned about the dangers of a bad diet. I eat almost all sugar, or well did, so she made me cut back. I still craved the chocolate sprinkled donuts with chocolate icing. Okay, and chocolate sprinkles, but so not the point. I had suddenly lost my appetite, and that was really something coming from me. I couldn't remember what I'd done with Cody's homework after I'd copied it.

"Zack?" Cody asked as he stepped up right beside me, hovering over with that annoying face he makes when he thinks I've done something stupid that will cost him. But this time, I hadn't done anything wrong-well, not counting that I had taken it to copy from it. But, I didn't lose it, I was sure. I put it right back-but I hadn't. As I dropped my spoon, I remembered having a slice of cold pepperoni pizza when I was busy copying his work. I had spilled my soda, and his paper had gotten soaked. Okay, that wasn't bad. I'd just tell him where to find it so he could go and retrieve it. No biggie. Where did I do with it after spilling soda on it? I had wiped up the mess with paper towels-a _lot_ of paper towels-OMIGOSHINESS; I threw it away with the paper towels! Why was Cody always right?

As I scrunched my face up, I took a deep breath. "Cody," I said with a hint of quivering in my tone.

"No, no, no! What did _you_ do?" He screamed at me. Jeez, it was only homework-he didn't need to yell about it like a baby. Loser. He should have been proud that he did well enough I wanted to copy from him.

"Look, I needed help, so I was using it to check my answers-"

"You were copying it!"

"Or, I was copying it." I agreed as I squeezed my eyes tight.

"Well, where is it?"

"Well…" I said as I braved a peek at my brother. Suddenly, it all came out in a rush, "I was eating pizza in here, and I spilled my soda. So I was cleaning it up and ended up picking up your homework with the paper towels-"

Cody's eyes widened so far, I swore they'd pop right out of his skull-which would have been cool to see. "You _threw_ it AWAY?" _Again _with the yelling?

"I didn't mean to!" Okay, so what if I yelled back-he started it, which means I had every right to keep the theme going.

"If you'd keep your hands off my stuff-"

"Hey, that's not fair!"

"Okay, fine." Cody said kindly, even though his eyes were still furious. I cocked one eyebrow at him because I felt something worse coming. "If you'd do your OWN homework, I wouldn't tell you to keep your hands off my stuff!"

"Cody!" Mom shouted as she came into the room, drying her hair off. "What is with the yelling?"

I tried to defend myself first, but Cody beat me to the chase as he pointed his right index finger in my face. I had half a notion to bite it, but I wasn't ten anymore. "_He_ stole my homework, copied it, and ruined mine!"

"Zack!" Mom's tone was definitely angry. I'd been caught yet again. "Were you cheating?"

"No!" I lied, my voice cracking which proved I was guilty. Darn puberty and the voice changes! Even a few years back, I could have gotten away with it.

"Zack." Mom sighed and crossed her arms as she gave me that look. The look that said "Zack, I'm very disappointed in you" before she ever did. She opened her mouth again, and she actually said "Zack, I'm very _disappointed_ in you."

"I know," I said glumly. I felt bad, but not bad enough to take the time and energy to do the work myself. I'd give it a few weeks, let Cody chill out then start copying from him again-my grades could take on a few weeks of failing papers, but only because I'd been copying from Cody.

Huffing, Cody turned toward me and got right in my face while I leaned as far back in the kitchen chair as I could. "I hate you," he hissed before running towards the door.

"Cody!" Mom scolded, and I laughed. She looked at me with that "don't even start" look so I raised my hands as a sign of surrender. "Don't you ever say that you hate your brother. Sure, he's rude, inconsiderate of others-"

"Gee, thanks _Mom._" I cut in, frowning. That was how she chose to defend me? List my faults? Great mothering techniques there.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Cody spun on his heel and glared at me. "Mom, he doesn't respect me! And, he never will!"

"That is still no reason for you to say you hate hi-you know, young man, hate is a very strong word." As Mom talked, I crossed my arms and nodded to Cody with a smug grin. Mom would eat away at him, really lay the guilt on him-it _always_ worked.

"Yeah, yeah." Cody replied as he furrowed his eyebrows. "But I still hate him." Then, he ran out the door, slamming it behind him. 

As my mom turned to me, a frown upon her face, I scoffed. "Jeez, did he wake up on the wrong side of bed?"

As my mom shook her head, she told me, "Go to school." Wow, a great way to start the day-alienating both my mother and brother.

(Later)

All day long, Cody hadn't spoken one word to me, not even looked at me. Normally, I valued those moments because my brother could be a major nerd and talk about a lot of stuff I didn't even understand or could pronounce. But I felt really guilty for copying his homework. We were in lunch, and Cody hadn't sat with Mark, Bob, and me. No, he'd chosen to sit with Barbara at the nerd table just so he didn't have to stare at me through lunch. Joke was on him, if there was a reflective surface anywhere close, he was basically looking at me anyway. Idiot. But, I was guilty and had to find a way to make it up to him. As I picked at the crust on my sandwich, it came to me. I'd give Cody the copy I'd made from his work and take the grade I deserved-an F. It was going to kill me to grow up enough to do that, but I would just to get rid of the annoying little voice in my head saying I'd done wrong. Stupid conscience.

That was the plan, and it would have been a wonderful plan. I never got the chance to use it.

I never even noticed the kid sitting in the front dressed in black until he started walking towards the teachers table. There was screaming, so I looked up-just like everyone else in the cafeteria. The kid had to be a senior, but he was very short with greasy hair and thick glasses. Probably the kind of kid that got teased everyday by the jocks. His screaming was intended for the teachers, who stood up and tried to calm him down. I saw the English teacher reach out towards him, but the kid backed up and seemed to hug himself. "NO, I want something done!" He screamed loud enough so that everyone, who had gone silent, heard.

The teachers were too quiet to hear from where I was sitting, but the English teacher seemed to be handling it well. That was what I thought until the guy hunched over. Bob leaned towards me and asked, "What's he doing?" I shrugged while answering, "You got me." Then, something black and shiny flashed in his hands. My eyes widened as my body recognized the danger long before my brain processed what I had seen. That guy had a gun…in school. And, he was aiming it at the teachers, the people who were supposed to make us feel safe or at least try to control us while we were away from our parents.

My insides went icy cold a split second before the thundering shot from the gun broke through the screams from people who had recognized the gun as well. Shaken, I was rooted in my seat even as everyone scrambled around passed me. Soon enough, I was alone at the table-I didn't see where Bob or Mark had hurried off to. My brain sluggish, I turned my head as the guy in black with the gun turned towards the jock table. He said something, then cackled as the jocks cowered before the weapon. I drew in a breath and forced myself to look away a split second before the shots fired. Dropping beneath the table, I held my palms over my ears just to get the ringing to stop. I was hyperventilating and didn't even feel stressed enough for it. In fact, I felt so cold and numb that I was surprised I was still aware of anything at all.

For the next few minutes, I stayed curled up under the table as shots kept ringing out through the air. "God, just make it stop," I whispered once when the guy started shooting one shot after another until the gun started clicking empty. He'd reload-he already had once, all that mattered was the time it'd take him to get the new clip in. There was no time to run from the cafeteria though; there wasn't that kind of time for escape. Up until that point, I hadn't formed a coherent thought about anything except how loud the gun was and when was it going to stop? But, I was rudely awakened to the world outside of my head when I heard a troubled scream. "ZACK!"

My head snapped up from where I had it hidden against my curled up knees, and I looked around from beneath the table. "Cody," I whispered as I crawled forward. I could see him running closer to my table, but it seemed like he was running towards the exit-I tried to sit at the table beside the door because it was easier to slip out of the room if I was in trouble when the door was at my side. I guess that was what drew the attention to my brother, aside from his panicked screaming for me.

I heard the gunshot, saw Cody scream and stagger, but didn't register it until my brother fell to the tile floor before my table hugging his stomach. It did register, though, soon enough. Even with him that close, I screamed, "CODY" and dove over to him. I didn't even check to see if the guy was still turned towards us-I didn't care because my brother was bleeding. There was a puddle forming already, and I felt my body start to tremble. "Cody," I whimpered as I lifted up his hands and saw it. The wound was sleek and shiny with blood, which kept pouring out. All I knew about cuts was to put pressure on them, but was I going to use to do that? Quickly, I realized I had two shirts on, my usual style, so I pulled the top one off and wadded it up. I pressed it to Cody's side, clenching my teeth and grimacing when he screamed out in pain, and held it down with as much force as I could. "Cody, I'm so sorry," I told him. "I shouldn't have copied your homework."

Tossing and turning, Cody whimpered and cried out as he tried to reply. His hair was a mess, and I didn't know how it could have gotten that way or why it mattered. I believed my brain was trying to distract me from the severity of what was going on. My brother had been shot and was bleeding like crazy. I felt the heat of the blood seeping through my shirt, and I had to swallow down a whimper or a cry. I was a lousy brother-I couldn't stop the bleeding. I'm sure Cody would have been able to.

"Don't worry 'bout…" Cody's breathing was labored, and his face twisted from the pain. "The paper," he finished before finally opening up his eyes-I nearly looked away when I saw the intense pain through his eyes. I was failing my baby brother. How could I let that happen?

"Cody, I don't know what to do," I cried out, my voice cracking as tears flooded my eyes. I wasn't the one who wanted to be a doctor. Then it hit me, Cody wanted that. He wanted to be a doctor, and lawyer, and be a part of a N.A.S.A. mission-the first doctor/lawyer in space. But, he was the one lying on the floor bleed out while I, the one who Cody kept saying would end up in jail at some point in my life, was the one trying to stop it.

As Cody cried again, tears sliding from his eyes, I felt my heart shudder and looked away. A tear slid from the corner of my eye without me being able to stop it. I had to help Cody, somehow there had to be a way.

"Zack." Cody croaked out, his voice raw. I looked at him with tears in my eyes and saw a deep calm upon his face. Was he accepting it? Was he giving up? I wouldn't let him.

"Yeah, Codster," I said as I put on a brave face, a smile that felt real on my face even if it wasn't. I was terrified, guilty, and felt betrayed even by the look on Cody's face. How could he be so calm about it?

Trying to breathe deeply, Cody let out a strangled scream again before he started panting shallowly. "Tell Barbara I loved her. And Mom, too."

"No, Cody-" I tried to argue, not wanting to hear what he was saying. Not wanting to believe it was happening to be honest.

"Tell Mom I love her, and I'm sorry." His bright eyes were fading, I was sure of it. I breathed faster even as I shook my head furiously.

"You tell her that yourself-you're getting out of here today. You'll see. The ambulance will be here soon, they'll take you to the hospital where you'll get all fixed up." I was babbling faster than my brain could keep up, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to let Cody give up on me. He had the right to live. Not just the right. He _had_ to live.

"Zack," Cody whined, tears sliding out of his eyes. "You have to." Those eyes fluttered, and I shook Cody gently just to get him to open his eyes wider. He also cried out in pain, and I felt horrible for having to hurt him more. But, it was for his own good.

"No, now come on. Tell me about the periodic chart." I had to coax him into focusing on something or else I'd lose him right there, and that was not happening.

With a shaking nod, Cody took up the challenge. "Helium, Hydrogen, Hafnium, Holmium, Mercury-"

"Mercury," I cut in. "What's that doing with all those H's?"

Even with that much pain and fear, Cody gave me a smile that he always gave me when he knew something I didn't. "Mercury's symbol is Hg." His voice slurred as his eyes started to close.

"Hey, hey, that's not all of them!" I shouted, watching his eyes open wide from shock. Blinking twice, Cody shook his head and made an "oh" with his lips. "S-silicon, selenium, strontium, samarium…" Again, Cody's eyes fluttered and voice droned off.

"CODY!" I cried out, not even trying to hide my fear anymore. His eyes opened up just a sliver-it wasn't much, but I went with it. "You're not done, buddy. You were telling me about Sanatari-ation?" Okay, I sucked at listening to Chemistry stuff, ergo why I copied Cody's work in the first place. I felt the guilt hit me again over that.

"Zack, I'm sorry." Cody whispered, tears steadily falling from his eyes.

"Why?" The word barely escaped from my lips-I was petrified to know why Cody was apologizing. I prayed it wasn't the reason I assumed it to be. He couldn't be giving up, he wasn't dying! Yet, wasn't he? His blood had soaked through the shirt I held against the wound, and it was warm against my palms, and I felt my heart sink even further. How much blood had he lost? Was it too much?

There was a struggle in Cody as he fought with his eyelids just to keep them open. He looked me right in the eyes, and I felt my lip quiver. "I don't hate you," he cried out, more tears pouring from his eyes. "I don't hate you," he repeated in a whisper. 

"I know that." I assured him. "I never thought you meant it-you were angry, and rightfully so. I was a jerk, remember?"

"King of the jerks." Cody kidded, but there was no smile or any humor in those eyes. He was losing the fight.

Hyperventilating again, I shook my head. "No, no. Stay with me, Cody," I begged as tears started to trickle down my cheeks. "You're going to be the first doctor/lawyer in space-remember?" My voice was squeaky and breathy as I went on.

"Was going to be." Cody whispered, his eyelids falling and leaving just a sliver of his irises.

"NO! Don't talk like that." I ordered. "Please! You have to hold on." My tears splattered on my brother's face, and I saw his lips quiver, too.

"I'm so tired. Hurts…so…much." He was starting to lose consciousness again, and I shook him one more time.

"I'm sorry, Zack." Cody told me again, and I couldn't take it.

Shaking my head, feeling my hair hit me in the eyes, I let out a ragged cry. "NO," I squeaked. "It should be me lying here on the floor, not you. You have the future."

"Zack," Cody weakly said, furrowing his eyebrows at me. He was so pale, but there was a flash of determination. "Take care of Mom, okay?"

"Cody," I protested, but it was too late. I stared into my brother's eyes but knew he wasn't looking back at me. There was a blank stare there, no life-like a puppet staring at me. Frozen in place, I felt that icy numbness spread through me like a blizzard until I couldn't feel a thing but the aching in my heart. "Cody," I repeated, tears pouring from my eyes-my body knew the truth my brain wouldn't accept. Taking a staggering breath, I pulled my right hand up and touched my brother's face. He was warm, but something was wrong-he didn't respond. "No," I whimpered, "Cody?"

Realization hit me like a semi-truck, and I suddenly couldn't breathe. "CODY!" I screamed even though I knew at that moment he was truly gone. I'd failed my brother. No, I failed my _twin_. "Cody," I cried as I leaned my forehead down against his and let the tears fall without restraint.

How long I was there crying was anyone's guess. But a scream cut through my mourning, and I lifted up to see my Mom across the cafeteria, hands clamped over her mouth. I started to smother again, forgetting how to breathe as I watched her race towards me. The tears returned, blurring my vision so that I couldn't see my mother get stopped by paramedics. All I heard were voices, mostly my mom screaming, "They're my boys! Why can't I go to them?" She sounded as hysterical as I felt inside. This couldn't be happening, I was dreaming. I prayed that I was dreaming-that the pepperoni pizza was giving me nightmares, like it always did.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry," I heard a gentle voice tell Mom. "But," then her voice grew too soft for me to distinguish. I didn't need to, my mother's mourning scream was proof enough to know what had been said.

Next thing I knew, paramedics were pulling me away from Cody, and I fought as hard as I could to get them to stop. "Leave me alone!" I screamed to them, my voice cracking. They were asking me questions, if I was hurt. Stupid question, if you asked me. No, my twin died because I wasn't competent enough to save him, I was _fine. _Morons.

But, I stopped struggling when a familiar scent flooded my nose. "Mom," I sobbed and latched onto her as more tears came. "I tried, but I couldn't get the bleeding to stop," I rambled. "There was so much blood, and I didn't know what to do. I didn't know." I felt her drop down to floor with me in her arms.

As my Mom's hands stroked my hair, I heard her crying almost as hard as I was, but she was still trying her best to soothe me. "No, you did all that you could," she was coughing out the words in between bouts of crying, and I felt worse.

"But Cody would have been able to get the bleeding to stop," I protested, "After all, he was the one with the future."

That was when my mom took my face in her hands. "Don't talk like that," she warned.


	2. Chapter 2: A New Life

Cody: A New Life

I felt a strange feeling as I lay bleeding in in my brothers arms on the cafeteria floor, it was like I was drifting...not from life, but from my body. The moment I thought I was really going to die I croaked out "Zack. Take care of mom, ok?" and then…I just drifted away. Silence filled the room, Zack just stared blankly, tears of defeat and anguish in filled his eyes."CODY!" I heard him scream.

"Zack…ZACK!" I yelled as I felt a sudden wave of new found strenght washed over me. I felt myself drift further away from my body; I could see Zack lying there with it. I tried getting his attention again "Zack!" He didn't respond.

What's happening? Why can I see my twin brother holding my dead body…_my_ _dead _body! This is NOT possible, it goes against everthing scientific! My mind started to hyperventilate and questions spilled out of my head. Why do I feel so much stronger? I mean, I was just shot in the side and I had lost a ton of blood! And WHY can no one hear me! Is this just what it's like to be dead? If it is, why can't I see any other dead people around me? This is the first time I can't use science to back me up, I feel so helpless! I would have gone straight to the library to do some research but my curiosity and love for my brother kept me rooted to the spot.

For a while Zack held my limp and lifeless, blood soaked body on the cafeteria floor, he cried his eyes out, a few times he sobbed "Why, Cody? You were the one with the future!" I tried to tell him that he had as much of a future as I do…well as much of a future as I _did_ have.

Loads of things were going through my head as I watched Zack. I was trying figure out what was happening to me, can Zack see me, why can't he hear me? All these thoughts were interrupted when I heard a scream...mom... Zack and I simultaneously looked around to the cafeteria entrance to see our mother in tears at the sight of us, her only sons lying in a pool of my glistening red blood.

Mom tried to run over to us but only to have her efforts extinguished by the paramedics who had just arrived. And then there was yelling, lots of yelling! Mom was yelling at the top of her lungs, paramedics were yelling out orders and were rushing over to Zack and I but they obviously couldn't see _me_…just my dead body. My dead b- *sigh…ok, what they heck is happening here? Was I given a second chance to fix something or maybe I was just fighting too hard for me to completely die, maybe, I'll just stick with that theory for now.

As I saw the paramedics try to pry my over protective brother from my body, a white hot wave of anger shot through my body. I felt the air tremble around me, sort of like it was shaking out of my body in small waves. The anger was building up inside me, it was like a ticking bomb waiting to expolde and what made me even angrier is that I couldn't do anything about it. The shaking grew faster and faster until...BOOM! A flash of white light blinded me and thick blonde fur exploded through my skin, my arms grew longer, my nose enlarged and…well so many things happened in just a fraction of a second.

When I looked down at my new, heat radiating and furry body I realized that I had turned into…a wolf. Not just any wolf, but a massive, blonde wolf! The muscles in my flanks rippled and my long tail lashed at the air, I howled in anger and confusion…for a couple of minutes I just stood there panting, letting my frustration out and staring and my twin and my mom lying on the floor, hugging each other and crying. As the anger diminished I slowly started to turn back into my human self.

"Wow" was the only thing my mind could think of for a while.

After the police managed to get mom and Zack calmed down they got more info about my death and details. Mom and Zack, too depressed and frustrated with life to start making any funeral plans, went home while the police and paramedics took my lifeless corpse away. I didn't know what to do or where to go so I just headed to my favorite place to think. The park...


	3. Chapter 3: Rain or Tears

Zack: Rain or Tears

I had cried so much that the tears wouldn't fall anymore; school was cancelled for the rest of day so most of the kids were hanging out at the park. As I walked back from school alone, I couldn't think about anything other than Cody. The way he staggered and fell to the ground, the blood pouring from the wound and soaking both his and my shirt, his scratchy voice, the tears in his eyes, his lifeless body and also...the part of him inside me that had died with him.

I was still crying but now it was just dry, soundless sobs. I had let him down; I had let my_ twin brother_ down, how could I? There was such a strong bond between us, even when we had our fights. Years ago, when Cody was being bullied, I promised myslef that as a big brother, I would protect him and do anything to keep him safe. But where is he now? He's dead and it's all my fault.

How am I supposed to live with this guilt now? I mean, I'm the reason Cody's dead. If I didn't copy his chemistry homework, I wouldn't have accidently thrown it away, and if i hadn't accidentally thrown it away he wouldnt have been mad. And if he hadnt been mad he wouldn't have been sitting close to his murderer because he would have been safe with me by the exit. Sigh...again with the hyperventilating.

Cody has done so much for me. He always helped me when I couldn't understand sometimes- which is pretty much every 5 seconds. When I had nightmares he would crawl into my bed and hold me while I calmed down and finally fell asleep. And that's exactly the problem, I'm the older brother so I should have been the one to do all that stuff and be there for him. Now I'll never get to show him that I can be a good big brother.

Before I knew it, I was walking past the park. Apparently I had walked for about 10 minutes...wow...I had gotten far. As I looked across the park I saw a familiar face...too familiar. _He_ was right there sitting on one of the park benches! I sprinted to the place that I saw him. "CODY!" I yelled. It was a long run towards the bench, as I ran I started to doubt the feeling I had…maybe it wasn't him…perhaps someone else and now I was just going to make a fool out of myself. I kept running, my eyes fixed on the figure I thought was my twin brother. I'm pretty sure Cody had died, mainly because he had died in _my_ arms only half an hour ago. And at the exact moment the thought entered my mind, he disappeared.

I stopped in my tracks, I was confused…I just saw my dead twin brother, oh my god I'm going crazy…or maybe what I saw was just a reflective surface and what I really saw was myself. I'm definitely going crazy. And with that I turned on my heel and walked back home, thinking about what I had just seen.

My thoughts suddenly strayed, I was thinking about stuff like; what I'm going to do without Cody, how am I going to survive? What we should do for his funeral.? At one point I started to think about…Barbara. And in a weird way too! I thought about how her hair blew in the wind, her perfect teeth and her amazing s—NO ZACK, DON'T! Even though Cody's dead and Barbara doesn't know he likes her, I can't betray him! I have to think of something else…Max, Max, Max, ahhh,Max…the girl of my dreams.

Suddenly, right beside me, on the side walk, there was this bright flash of light and a excruciating howl. I looked around to see if anyone else was as shocked as I was...it seemed like no one else had noticed. But it wasn't just that, after the flash of light and the howl, I felt angry: no, not just angry but I felt like ripping someone's head off! But why! I was just thinking about how I could make my brothers' soul happy? The only logical explaination was that I had just seen my twin brother die so I went along with that. After while I had calmed down and was heading towards the Tipton. I heard a voice, it sounded so familiar. "_Zack…Can you hear me_?" and then I felt something really hot brush my hand.

What the heck? First I saw my dead brother sitting on a park bench, then I see this flash of white light, hear a painful howl right next to me, hear a voice outta no where and now I'm feeling things? What next! God I going crazy!

As soon as we entered the lobby Maddie and London came running towards me and tried to comfort me…I didn't even realize I still had tears in my eyes. They were all hugging me and crying, even Mr. Mosby was there has was trying to comfort Mom whose face was now covered in black blotches…her mascara leaked because of all the crying. I looked around the lobby and there-again- I saw my twin staring at me, tears welled in his eyes and some rolling down his cheek…I'm sure I was just seeing things so I looked away.

This is probably a normal thing for people who saw someone die right in front of them, seeing my dead brother all over town and you know, hearing things…well at least, I hope it's normal.

After a lot of hugs and comforting words in the lobby, Mom and I headed upstairs to our suite. We were so hungry but depressed that we didn't even bother to fix ourselves a proper lunch. Mom just opened the freezer, took out a bucket of ice cream, and 3- no 2 spoons.

Still crying, Mom sat slouched at the table eating rocky-road ice cream with blotches of mascara all over her face, she looked like the typical depressed woman, I had a few scoops too and then went for a shower.

I was lucky that there were some clean clothes of mine in the bathroom because I couldn't bear to go into my room. I just couldn't face the fact that Cody and I were in the same room only 10 hours ago and I was the reason that he's not back-that he's never coming back… Again I felt the tears coming so I ran out of the suite, jumped the stairs-I didn't bother taking that slow elevator- and ran out of the lobby.

It was raining when I got outsid. By now the tears were falling rapidly, I just stood there in the pouring rain, letting the tears of the heavens combine with mine. How ironic, Cody died and now it's pouring rain, it was almost like God and all the angels and saints were crying for my loss too. But then again, they were gaining a very smart, gentle and loving person. I hope heaven will need a doctor/lawyer/astronaut. Then maybe Cody can fulfill his dreams…Ha ha! I laughed for what seemed like the first time in ages, even though I had just hours ago.

Still, I stood in the rain, now completely soaked. It was cold, but I couldn't care less, I just wanted to be alone. I looked up at the heavens-hoping that Cody could hear me- and yelled "Cody, I'm sorry!" And suddenly, out of nowhere I felt a pair of strong, warm hands wrap themselves around my shoulders from behind and I heard that same voice I heard 30 minutes ago say "_I love you, bro_"

I looked down, there was nothing there, but I could still feel the warmth of the invisible arms around me. But then as quickly as it came to me, the warmth went away…


	4. Chapter 4: Controlled Anger

Cody: Controlled Anger

There were many kids from Cleever's High at the park, school probably got cancelled after that gothic, gay dude murdered me. So far the only good thing about being invisible is that now I can think without being disturbed, hopefully no one will try to sit on me. Now what am I going to do about Mom and Zack? There's got to be a way for them to see me and help me out. Jeez…I don't even know if I'll have the same basic needs of a normal, alive human. I mean like, will I need food and water.

All these thoughts were interrupted by someone yelling, someone yelling my name. OMG its sounds like Zack! I looked around and saw Zack running towards me yelling my name! Can he see me? SWEET! Now maybe he can help me out! But before I could do anything else he stopped right in his tracks, he thought for a second.

I don't think he saw me anymore…I don't know what happened. Zack stared at the place where I stood but he didn't look very interested, I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up. He turned around and started to go home again, I think I'll follow him home. I ran up to Zack and walked home with him.

Zack was crying, dry, soundless sobs, I wanted so much to turn to him and hug him, make him feel better and not feel guilty about my death. He looks so vulnerable when he's crying, or when he's not flirting with Maddie and trying to super manly. As we walked home, I daydreamed about many things and people…Barbara…I miss her, I didnt even get a chance with her. The way her hair blows around in the wind, her perfect teeth, and that amazing smile. Now that I'm dead-I think-I will never get to tell her that.

I remembered when Zack made me dress up as a girl and enter that beauty pageant to win and get money for new bikes. Mainly because out old bikes were tricycles. And it was actually fun…only because I was surrounded by loads of girls though. Unfortunately we got caught. But, BOY was it worth it! I got my first kiss from this really pretty girl called Rebecca who did win the pageant. I liked her a lot but that was before I met Barbara.

I also remembered that one time when we were in the acting club and all the roles got mixed up, since Gwen and I were dating, I was supposed to be Lysander and Gwen, Hermia because Hermia and Lysander shared a kiss, but instead Zack got Lysander and I got to be a person called Bottom who gets turned into a donkey. How ironic...a donkey named Bottom! Agnes-because she had a crush on Zack- had a plan to stop Zack from kissing Gwen. On the day of the performance, we changed a part in the script (without telling anyone else) and after we did that all the kids in the play got mad at each other and had a fight. But lucky for us, Bob saved us. The audience thought it was all part of the play ha ha! I'm going to miss those times…

While I was thinking about all these amazing memories and the girl I like, the most random things interrupted. I was suddenly thinking about funerals, Chef Paolo, songs and-ick- Max! I mean it's not that I don't think she's pretty and I don't have a problem with her, it's just the way I was thinking about her. It was almost like I was in love with her, in my head I saw her in this really nice dress and she was singing a duet with Zack…Zack? Wait a minute…didn't Zack like her? Well if he did, why am I thinking about her like this? And then in hit me. Twin telepathy!

My thoughts were interrupted by Zack-yet again-, he was thinking about something that really upset me. "_Now that Cody's dead, I wonder who's going to bail me out of jail..." _Ahh Zack. He's always joking around, at least he's feeling better now. And then his thoughts sounded serious _"Whose going to bail me out of jail, help me get a job and be there for me after Moms gone? I only ever had Cody and Mom, but pretty soon I'll have no one…." _As I turned to look at him I saw his eyes fill up with tears and he thought the last 4 words.

That thought really got me mad so for the second time today, I felt that same, violent vibrating, and intense heat shooting through me. A long and painful howl escaped my mouth-or muzzle-as I changed. And again I had transformed into that enormous blonde wolf. Beside me Zack flinched…I don't know why, it's like he saw or heard me change, but he didn't show any other sign of him seeing me.

Why does he have to think that way? He's just as capable of getting a job and staying out of jail as I am, he just needs a bit of help. And I intend on giving him that help...as soon as I figure out how to make myself visible to him!

As we crossed the road and walked towards the Tipton I had calmed down and changed back into a human, and hoping he would hear me, I leaned towards Zack and whispered in his ear "Zack…Can you hear me?".

We walked through the doors of the Tipton my hot, hand brushed his cold one as I walked past him into the lobby. Everyone was there, and they all came rushing over to Zack when they saw him. They hugged him, tried to comfort him because tears were now streaming down his and most of everyone else's faces.

I stood by Mr. Mosby's desk and watched the scene with tears building up in my own eyes. At one moment Zack looked at me, he made full eye contact but then he just turned away as if he hadn't seen me. I felt his wave of doubt, confusion and anxiety wash over me.

For the last few hours I've been feeling his random emotions, I don't know how I'm going to deal with this, maybe I should try to get Zack to notice me and realize that I'm still here. But definitely AFTER I figure out what's happening to me. But how? So far all I know about my situation is that I now have some sort of supernatural strength. I'll go test out this super strength before dark.

The air was damp, the ground was hard and the wind rushed through my hair. I was racing through the park, the wind in my long, blonde, hair. I had been running for a whole 5 minutes now and I wasn't even tired. Adrenaline shot through my veins, excitement filled the air that surrounded me and my feet pounded on the ground. My mind started to wander, what if I transformed right now? I mean if I wanted to, how could I? I tried to think myself into changing, maybe if I thought hard enough I would make the change. So I stopped running and concentrated. I was concentrating so hard that I realized that I wasn't breathing.

Nothing was happening, I was concentrating so hard but still nothing I wasn't changing. I was starting to get impatient. 2 minutes later still no change. Now I was really frustrated. Since my first transformation I have been getting more and more short-fused. By now I was so frustrated that I just started to run at top speed towards the lake. I used to be able to run off my anger before I died, so I guess it should work now.

Anger and adrenaline was now all mixed together with my blood. I started to get faster as I got closer to the lake. Faster and faster, closer and closer...and before I could stop myself I felt an anger heat shoot through my body. I had felt this before. I launched myself across the lake, screaming at the top of my lungs. Half way across, in midair, the familiar blonde fur exploded through my skin once more and I landed on the other side of the lake in the form of a wolf.

The feeling of running free for hours and hours, at top speed and never get tired is the greatest feeling in the world! The wind in your fur, your giant paws pounding the soft earth. It would be amazing if Zack could transform too, he probably would because were identical twins. It was getting really late now, I could tell because there wasn't anybody outside. I started to run back to the Tipton. I may have super strength and not need to breathe, but I'm guessing that I still need to sleep. My eyes started to feel heavy and my running started to slow.

As I got closer to the Tipton I changed back into a human. I walked into the lobby and ran up the stairs instead of using the elevator. I tries to be as quiet as possible as I entered the suite. Zack was curled up on the couch instead of Mom. His eyes were red and swollen and he was still wearing the shirt he was wearing this morning.

I wanted to do whatever I could to make him feel better. I went over to the couch and laid down beside him, wrapping my arms around his torso. As our heads touched I felt a wave of electricity pass through us, blurring my vision with a picture.

It was his dream! I could hear everything, feel everything and see everything that he could. I could even hear his thoughts. He was dreaming about me, well really about us when we were younger. Almost every happy memory of us together played in his head, and then suddenly he started to become confused as the memory of what happened only hours ago when we were both standing out in the rain played in our minds. Over and over again the same vision replayed "I love you bro".

And then –as if he knew I was laying beside him- he whispered "Cody…" I knew he probably wouldn't hear me but still is whispered back "I'm right here Zack…" He twitched slightly in his sleep and a smile erupted on his face. The vision we both shared now was one of where we were standing in a place I couldn't recognize, with our arms around each other with Max and some other girl hugging us both too. I laughed to myself. Although I didnt recognize the girl I got the feeling that that would someday happen.

Minutes later, my eye lids started to feel really heavy and I slowly began to let the consciousness in me fade away into a deep, peaceful sleep.


	5. Chapter 5: Funeral Plans

Zack: Funeral Plans

I woke up a 2am, daing it was so hot! And it was in the middle of fall! As I sat up it got cooler but I was too tired to sit up but not sleepy enough to fall asleep so I just lay there in the mysterious heat and let my mind wander.

Everything was just so weird, and horrible without Cody. I'm starting to go crazy, I'm seeing things, hear things and feel all sorts of random and weird things too. Something's wrong with me…

I had been lying there for over an hour now, crying and wishing my twin brother was still alive and with me. My eyes were red and my cheeks burned from the free falling tears that poured down my face now and I could still feel that mysterious heat and something wrapped around my torso. I must have been lying there for longer than I thought because when I looked out the window the sun was almost already was up.

It was 5 am! I'd probably fallen asleep between the sobs. I had never cried so much in my life…and tears are still falling. I thought I was supposed to be the tough one here! "Oh Cody! Come back!" I had probably said that a little too loud because the next thing I knew, I was crying into Moms shirt and she had her face buried in my shaggy blonde hair, her tears wetting it.

Obviously Mom had failed at trying to comfort me because it was 6 am by the time she said "Come on Zacky, we've got to start planning Cody's funeral and I want you to help with it too, you probably know your twin better than anyone else"

"Yeah, I just want everything to be perfect for him…just like he imagined it. He told me what he thought would be an awesome funeral, or goodbye party as he put it and I still remember what he told me"

"What did he say?"

"He said that when he died and if he had the opportunity to plan his funeral he would have his closest friends, me and you lower his coffin into the hole. He said that it would be amazing to have his band playing his favorite songs. He wanted the funeral to not seem like a very sad thing but more like a celebration of the beginning to a new life in heaven where all the angels and saints would welcome him into paradise."

"Wow…that sounds amazing. What were his favorite songs?"

"They were My Immortal by Evenesence and Save You by Simple Plan."

"Those songs are perfect! And we'll both make your brother's dream come true."

"Thanks Mom"

School was on today so I had to get dressed quickly. When I got there I felt so lonely, I missed Cody so much today. He was the only one I could count on to help me when I needed help, and today I had no one when I needed help the most.

All of my friends just gave me pitiful looks and hurried along to wherever they needed to go. Everyone knew that I had lost my twin, losing a twin was like losing a part of yourself, so they didn't talk to me much because they didn't know what to say.

At lunch time I sat alone at the table that Cody last sat at. All of my friends were sitting at other tables but still close by, I could hear them whispering and looking in my direction.

When the bell rang I sat at my table until everyone else had left. After I finally stood up I walked towards the closest exit. I stopped midway. I realized that I was standing in the exact spot where Cody lay bleeding on the floor with me holding him before he died.

I stood there for a few minutes, letting the tears, which had built up behind my eyes throughout today, stream down my face. After what happened yesterday I didn't really care if anyone saw me crying, I wasn't ashamed of crying for my dead twin.

And then again…I saw Cody standing next to me with his hand on my shoulder in a comforting gesture. I could feel an immense heat on the place where he laid his hand. I looked away from him. And when I looked back he was gone.

Not caring that I was already late, I walked back to my locker as slowly as possible. When I got to it I got my stuff out and cried into it for a while and then I made my way to class with red, swollen eyes.

I didn't care that everyone including the teacher could see that I had been crying. They knew the reason why, and it's a pretty darn good one!

"Um…take your seat please, Mr. Martin"

"Yes sir" I mumbled as I look the seat at the far back of the classroom.

No one made any eye contact with me; they just sat there with their heads bent low.


	6. Chapter 6: Been Heard All Along

Cody: Been Heard All Along

At about 3 am I woke to the sound of sobbing. As I lifted my head my head off the couch I saw my clone crying his eyes out. I couldn't bear seeing him like that so I moved closer to him and tried to comfort him. As I hugging him I tried to concentrate all my immense body heat to keep him warm for it was getting cold and he was shivering.

After a while he fell asleep in my arms, his head resting on my soaked t-shirt. We sat there for about an hour until he woke up and yelled "Cody, come back!" Obviously Mom heard that she ran out of our room to see if Zack was ok and wasn't trying to do something reckless.

They ended up sitting there for another hour until they started talking about me and my funeral. After hearing what Zack said I realized what an amazing brother I had. He remembered everything I told him when we were talking about funerals a couple of months ago. I said that I would have like to have a party more than a funeral. Because I believe that death wasn't a sad thing, death isn't an ending, it's more of a new beggining, a celebration of new life and being reunited with God and being able to live a new life in paradise. Even though Zack's an atheist he understands what I mean.

I wanted there to be Zack's band playing my favorite songs as a full band, electric guitar, drums and everything. And I'm so glad that Zack is trying to make my dream come true.

I followed Zack to school, during the day I could hear every thought of his no matter how far away from me he was. Apparently I could hear his thoughts but he couldn't hear mine….I wonder why? At the start of lunch time I went to the library to see if there were any books about people coming back to life after they died.

As I walked to the library I saw posters on the walls around the school with a guys picture on it saying "Have you seen this boy". They had his name, age and height on it. The guy in the picture looked like the same guy who shot me. I guess they haven't found him yet; I'll hunt him down myself and make him pay.

The library was empty…good, now I can look at books without being noticed. There were a few books about afterlife theories by random people, mostly by disciples of certain religions like Christianity, Hinduism and a few others. All mentioned stuff about people coming back to finish unfinished business. Some people say that some of the spirits stay roaming on Earth forever, but none of them say anything about the spirits turning into wolves! Maybe I'm one of the first werewolves on this planet. Or maybe God has given me another chance to live, but just in another form for more advantages of travel.

As I looked around some more I spotted a book on the shelf on my right. It was big, dusty and looked like it hadn't been opened since it was bought but other than that it was in perfect condition. The book was called _Transfiguration; Myth or Legend?_ As I opened it a wave of new book smell mixed with other scents hit me. With my extra powerful sense of smell I could tell that those smells were smoke, horse and grass. Weird…

Inside there were lists of various animals with the title _Animagai. _Antelope, baboon, cheetah, dung beetle...on and on the lists continued in alphabetical order. As I got to the bottom of the list one single word stared at me as if it was waiting for me to notice it…Werewolf…

Werewolf pg 134'' almost jumped out from the page, I quickly flicked to the back of the book to page 134. WEREWOLF it said in capitalized, bold words with a picture of a gigantic brown wolf.

**Species:** Werewolf

**How to transform**: At will (Once mastered the skill of anger management)

**Speed:** Can go faster than the speed of light

**Ways of travel**: Running, flying (extremely rare)

**Color:** Persons original hair color

**Talents:** Depends on persons personality and personal desires

**Natural Life Expectancy:** Forever

**How to kill this animal:** The only way to destroy this animal is to feed it a very rare and hard to make potion

**Ingredients**: Phosphorus, strong alcohol, vampire venom, crushed vampire flesh

I ripped the page out of the book and shoved it into my pocket, this page obviously had information that would be very useful to me I kept flicking through the book looking for more info. There was a note in bright red pen at the back of the book. It wasn't in English though I could recognize that it was written in hieroglyphics and a code…Morse. This time I decided that I would just take the book with me. Putting a $50 bill on the empty librarians desk to pay for a replacement of this book, I left the library.

The lunch room was packed with people but it was unusually quiet especially in the middle of the room. There I found Zack sitting all alone at the table where I had last sat. It looked like he had suffered a lot today. Our friends were all sitting at other tables, but it looked like they still cared about him because they were giving him his space but still sitting close enough to comfort him if he needed them.

RRIING! The bell rang, everyone got up and left the lunch room – well, everyone but Zack. He sat there until everyone else had left, only after that did he move. He walked slowly towards the closest exit but stopped mid way. I walked over to him to see if he was alright. Our scent and the scent of blood lingered over that spot. Realizing why he had stopped, I placed my hand on his shoulder in a comforting gesture. He looked at me, frowned and then looked away. As soon as that happened I sprinted out of the lunch room. I was almost certain that he had seen me, that was a good thing but I wanted to figure out what had happened to me before I he noticed me so that I could tell him everything a.s.a.p.


	7. Chapter 7: Finally Have You

Zack: I Finally Have You

It was decided that the funeral was to be held 2 weeks from now. And that Max, Barbara and I were to play the songs that Cody said he liked. We only had 2 weeks to practice.

There was an awkward silence when I walked into the lobby that evening. A dperessed looking Max and Barbara were sitting on a couch waiting for me. When Max saw me walk out of the elevator she ran over to me and threw her arms around my neck, crying into my chest. I did my best to comfort her.

After a while I pushed her away far enough to see her face, but still have my arms around her waist. As I stared into her eyes I noticed that her eyes were swollen and her dark brown fringe was matted to her face. Her eyeliner was blotchy and her hair was a mess but still she was the most beautiful girl I've ever seen.

As she stared back into my eyes the tears poured from her own started to slow. Fighting back my own tears, trying to be the strong one, I wiped away a tear from her eye and brushed back a hair from her forehead. "I miss him too" I whispered to her "But crying won't bring him back…trust me I've tried it. How about we make him happy by giving him the best funeral ever?"

"Yeah, we should get practicing…I'm sorry about that…it's just that, you know, we were friends for so long and now he's ju-"

"Shh…I know, we'll help each other get through this, let's go babe."

"Ok" Max whispered back, yet still not letting go. "Um…Zack?"

"Yes?"

"You just called me babe…"she said with a sheepish grin.

My basically melted with embarrasment when she said that. "Oh, sorry I said, my heart racing.

"Thats ok Zack. Actually I kinda liked it when you called me that, I don't know if you realized it but I...I like you Zack"

"Really? I do too!"

"Wow...since when?"

"I've loved you since we first met, since when did y-"

"For a while now…wait, did you say love?"

We had completely forgotten that Barbara was waiting on the couch, she was getting really impatient. "Um…guys, stop with the mushy lovey dovey stuff and let's get practicing we've only got 2 weeks to get ready!" she said, interrupting our moment. She was probably feeling jealous because she had a slight crush on Cody, she missed him a lot now that he's dead.

"Yeah, let's go. We've got a lot of practicing to do"

"Can I speak to you after practice?"

"Sure" I said as I unwrapped my arms from her waist.

Max pulled her hair away from her face and grabbed my hand. She looked up at me and smiled, I smiled back and headed towards the basement.

We both walked hand in hand the whole way my mind and heart soared. Max likes me! I had dreamed of that moment for years. I love her so much and I can't wait tell her that.

Arwin had already set up the piano, amps and microphone for us. Barbara was already at the piano playing parts of the song. Max let go of my hand and pulled out a sheet of lyrics she walked over to the microphone.

After I set up my red hot electric guitar I practiced alone while Max and Barbara looked over the lyrics. When Max started singing her voice filled the basement…and my heart.

"_When you cried I wiped away all of your tears, _

_when you scream I'd fight away all of your fears, _

_I held your hand through all of these years-" _

She sounded like an angel, I've always thought that the song sounded incomplete, and her voice completed it. The harmony between Barbara's low and Max's high pitch sent a shiver down my spine.


	8. Chapter 8: The Cons of Telepathy

Cody: The Cons of Telepathy

Zack's face at the practice was priceless when he heard Max sing. He was in love, but at least he now had something to think about other than me. The songs they practiced were amazing; Zack's electric guitar solo was beautiful and so was the harmony between Barbara's low key and Max's high key. I could tell that Zack was thinking the same things too. While he listened to Max sing he filled our shared emotions with the strongest emotions ever, stronger than I have ever felt.

They were practicing My Immortal for my funeral, I can't believe that Zack actually remembered what I had said all those months ago. I've always thought that he never really listened to me; I guess I was wrong, maybe he had always been listening. What a surprise, through these 14 years, I've actually been heard.

To me, Zack had always seemed like the meanest brother sometimes, but now, in these past 24 hours I've realized how great he is. He's been like a substitute dad to me; he was always there for me, when I needed help. He's like a dad, but a very short and annoying dad, ha ha! But obviously he's loved me through all these years; he just had different ways of showing it.

After the practice Zack and Max walked out into the lobby and out the door, they sat on the front steps and were talking. I didn't want to intrude on my brother's life even though I was invisible and he couldn't see me so I ran off to the park to practice transforming.

As I ran in human form I could still feel the complex emotions that Zack felt. I tried to block out what they were saying because at this point I could even hear their conversation. This twin telepathy thing was amazing but I still can't figure out why it only works one way. I try to force the telepathy a couple of times everyday in hope that he would hear me and respond, so far nothing happened.

I stopped in the emptiest part of the park, that's when I started trying to control my anger and use it for the transformation. It was hard to control my emotions with Zack's mixed with mine. My anger kept being interrupted by waves of happiness or excitement. After a while Zack's emotions finally disappeared from my mind and I could let the anger and rage rush through me. I tried over and over again for hours until finally at about 1pm I felt the familiar red, hot and prickly anger rush through my veins and in a split second I was the same blonde werewolf.

I practiced this a few more times, pretty soon I figured out that it was easier to transform when I was running. After this I walked back home, feeling too hungry and sleepy to run.


	9. Chapter 9: The Dream

Zack: Dreams

As we walked towards the front steps outside the Tipton I could feel my heart racing in my chest. I could also hear two other similar rhythms, one was louder but the other was faster…strange…since when could I hear people's heart beat, and why 2 (not including mine) at the same time? Max was the only other person with me at the moment. I shrugged of the thought.

"So what did you want to talk about? Is everything ok?"

"Actually Zack, everything's perfect, well…now it is, now that I know you love me too"

"Oh really?" I said with a bit of a tease in my voice "I've always loved you, since when did you get feelings for me?"

"Since that one time you took me to that restaurant at the Tipton when we were 12" A blush crept onto her cheeks.

"Wow…you mean we've liked each other for 3 whole years and never knew about it…and I wasted my time thinking about how you would have rejected me if I had asked you out!"

"I always thought you were the ladies man and also I thought you liked Maddie. That was the reason you were always flirting with her right?"

"At first I did like Maddie but after I fell for you I only flirted with her to get my mind off you because I thought we never had a chance. Especially after you shoved cake into my face and stormed off during our date"

"Oh, yeah sorry about that...Well, what do you think about girls who take the lead and make the first move?"

"I admire them, why?"

"You'll see" With this she got up and walked down the street towards her house. "See you tomorrow"

I wonder what she had in mind; I stared after her as she walked away into the late afternoon. For a while I just sat there thinking about her, I can't believe that she'd liked me for 3 years now. I should have listened to Cody when he told me to ask her out, Cody was always right.

After a few minutes I started to feel sleepy so I walked back into the Tipton and up to the suite. We always used to curl up in each others bed when we had a nightmare, and I really hope this is just one big nightmare. Hopefully, when I wake up tomorrow morning I'll find myself lying in Cody's comforting arms. As soon as I got into the room my twin and I had shared not 2 days ago I ignored my bed and flopped down on soon as I hit the bed I fell asleep.

_Oh my god…Cody? _

_As I picked myself of the ground I looked up and saw Cody in the middle of a clearing, his face scrunched up in concentration, his fists clenched and his eyes shut. I didn't know what was happening, what was he doing in a middle of a clearing? He was supposed to be dead. I tried to walk over to him but something glued me to the spot where I stood, I tried to get his attention but he couldn't hear me. My head hurt and I don't know why, and suddenly I felt an immense pain shoot through me. _

_My knees buckled and I fell to the ground, I roared in pain. As I lifted my head after the pain had diminished I saw incredible. _

_Standing in the spot where I saw Cody not 5 seconds ago, was a large, blonde werewolf. It was about 5 feet tall and had long, shaggy blonde fur just like Cody's hair. It's muscles rippled as it ran around the clearing. It stopped once it got to me as sat down right in front of me. It stared at me, through it's hypnotic, blue-green eyes, it's eyebrows were furrowed together as if it were concentrating._

_I sat frozen on the ground, not knowing whether to sit still or run screaming. Suddenly the wolf flung it's head back and let out an agonizing howl and then ran off. _

"_Cody?"I yelled as I realized that it was my twin. _

"_Cody, come back!" _

_After that everything faded…_

I woke up in cold sweat, breathing hard. I saw Mom hovering over me, she was shaking me awake. "Zack! Wake up its only a dream." She said in a hushed voice. I was lying on Cody's bed, fully clothed and it was 3 am. "It was a dream…?"I asked as I looked around. "Yes…only a dream" she said as she sat down on the bed "Why were you yelling, what was the dream about?"

"Cody, I-,I saw him in the middle of a clearing in the park"

"Is that it?"

"No, something weird happened, I felt a terrible pain and fell to the ground. When I looked up he was gone and in his place was a huge, blonde wolf"

"Wow…then why were you yelling?"

"He howled and ran away…"


	10. Chapter 10: 2 Weeks Later

Zack: Two weeks later

Two weeks of pure torture! It's onlybeen 2 weeks and Cody- or the lack of Cody has made such an impact on my life. We've never been apart other than those 10 minutes between my birth and Cody's and the time he went on math camp, and we all knew how that ended! I'd never thought that we would be seperated especially like this.

I've been thinking about running away for a few days now, and I've got it all planned out. I want to run away from all the memories about my life before Cody's death because they just hurt too much, the pain in my heart just won't go away with all these memories playing in my head all day.

Today is the day I carry out my plan, I've packed a bad filled with one change of clothes, all the money I could find lying around in the house and a variety of canned foods along with chips, water, chocolate bars (for energy) and a large reuseable water bottle.

Today is also Cody's funeral, he would be so proud of me when he saw it from where ever he is now. I probably put in more effort into planning the funeral than I have in all my years of school put together.

I continued to lay in Cody's bed with his and my blankies lying on my chest, thinking about my plan. You see, Cody's blankie has a twin too, my blankie, Cuddles (hey! I was 2! I couldn't think of a better name. I'm not even sure if I could even think back then!).

When we were born, our grandmother gave them to us, they got us through every tough time we had, of any ot Mom and Dad's divorce. We used to lay in bed together, hugging each other, crying and holding our blankets when we could hear them fighting in their bedroom. Over the years I sorta out grew my Cuddles, but Cody still kept his with him and apparently he'd kept mine too.

My mind started to drift back to the plan, was it going to work? How long would I last out there? Maybe it'd would just be better if something out there put me out of my miseries...

Finally getting out of bed, I took both blankies off my chest and went to the bathroom to clean myself up, they were still clutched in my sweaty hands. I hadn't told Max about what I was going to do yet she'd either a) try to stop me or b) want to come with me, and I didn't want her do to any of those things. Hopefully after I'm gone, Max'll be able to forget about Cody and I and move on with her life, it'll be better for her.

As I walked out of the bathroom I grabbed all of my essentials, stuffed them in my bad and then made sure I had gotten everything like my cell phone, skateboard and basketball. I'll probably be able to make money off of people by betting with basketball games and skateboards showdowns.

One by one I moved my stuff to a secretspot in the lobby where no one would be able to find it. This was one major advantage of living in a hotel for a long time, you get to explore every inch of it and find the best routes to get to places and the best hiding spots. More memories of my adventures with Cody at the hotel flooded my mind, tears started to well in my eyes but I managed to blink them away.

When I went back to the suite Mom had woken up and was showering. We didn't talk much anymore, just the usual "Good morning", "Good night", "Cya". Moms also been drinking, usually she doesnt, just a little wine at special occasions and that was it but now she's started with the beer and whisky and all that stuff. Sometimes when she came back from shows, her clothes smelt like smoke but she just says that it was some kind of perfume that some of the middle eastern guests wore. I know they wear some kind of escence but I also know that it wouldn't stink as much as smoke from a cigarette. After I changed into my tux, I started to tune my guitar for the performance later.

Half an hour of preparing had gone by and Mom and I were ready to go. My stuff was already downstairs so I just walked around the suite to see if I could find any more money. I walked into my bedroom and looked around.

As I stared at everything in the messy room, memories flooded my head for the second time today. I could see Cody lying asleep in his bed, I could see him curled up with my on my bed when he had a nightare, I could see that amused grin he always gave me when he knew someting I didn't- which by the way I got almost every 5 minutes. I missed those carefree days. Now all I could think about which didnt involve Cody was saftey, I was constantly checking windows, fire alarms, and door locks even at school...I just wish he was still here.

"Goodbye" I said to my memory filled room, blinking back tears. I closed the door and walked out of the suite with my guitar and amp on my back, still clutching the blankies in my hand.


	11. Chapter 11: What Plan?

Cody: What Plan?

It was the day of the funeral, Mom and Zack hadn't spoken in the past week because Zack was spending late nights at school in the woodshop room. No one was the cemetery yet except Zack who was setting up the instruments.

There was a stage in the middle of the cemetery and chairs surrounded it. On the other side therear for was a deep hole in the ground and in front of that was a large slab of white marble, my coffin rested upon it. It was a large, brown box with my name engraved in bold letters in the wood. Zack had made the cover of the coffin himself, he was always better at me in woodshop. He had spent every woodshop lesson in a separate room carving it. I remember 2 years ago when he let me take credit for his amazing clock because my box sucked. He's the best brother ever; I can't believe I told him that I hated him.

After he plugged in the amps, guitars, microphones and electric piano, he walked over to the coffin and opened it. He pulled up a chair and stared at the body that lay inside. I trotted over to him in wolf form and we sat in silence for a while.

Silent tears rolled down my twins face, I let out a low whimper and then lay my head on his shoulder. Even as I sat on the ground, I was almost as tall as him. The silence was sat in was broken when Zack started talking. "Cody, I don't know if you can hear me, but I just wanted you to know that you're the kindest brother ever imaginable. Even though your dead you'll always be alive I my heart. I will always love you and I'm sorry that I made fun of you through a these years, I'm sorry that I stole your chemistry homework. If I didn't you probably wouldn't be lying here, dead, and in a box. I'm sorry that I've been such a suckish brother. Make those angels and saints up there jealous of your amazing personality…and looks" he laughed quietly at the last 2 words between the tears. "I have a plan, Cody" he whispered.

Plan? What plan? My head shot up to look at his face, hoping for a clue in his expression. "I'm going to do it tonight bro." he said, still whispering, not knowing that I was sitting right beside him, Hanging onto each word. "I don't want to talk about it right now, someone might hear me. Where ever you are, please, please help me with this. Hopefully I'll find somewhere safe. And if I don't it'll just be better. Because then I might die...and then I'll be with you, my brother, my twin...my best friend. I'm sorry..." Again we sat there in silence.

Plan? I've never heard him talk or think about it before. I tryed to penetrate his thoughts ...sigh ...nothing, he's just thinking about Max, Mom and me. A few minutes passed by, he continued to stare at the body in the coffin as I stared at his face trying to find a clue.

Finally, I noticed something in the corner of my eye, there was something in his pocket. It was a blue piece of fabric. I recognized it immediately. Blankie? No...It wasnt Blankie though it was almost identical...Cuddles? What was Zack doing with Cuddles? The last time he saw it, he was threthening to throw it off the Tipton roof top!

That when I remembered him doing those strange things in the morning, he was moving some of his stuff to some place in the lobby. Could this all be connected? The plan, Cuddles, his strange behaviour? I'm smart enough to know that somethings going on and that all this is connected in some way but...how?

I tried to figure out all this stuff in my head but Zack suddenly stood up."I love you Codster…" he said as he removed the necklace that he wore around his neck and attached it to the one that was around my corpse's neck. "Goodbye brother…"his eyes filled with tears again, choking at these words.

When we were little we had given each other the necklaces, they were identical to each other but mine had a part that only his could be attached to. We had promised to make sure that the one who died first would have both necklaces when the coffin went in the ground, so that's exact what Zack did.

After that he got up and walked around, doing a final check of the grounds. As he worked he tried to dry his eyes before the guests came. Max had arrived earlier, when she saw his slightly red eyes she instantly knew that he had been crying again so she lead him to a seat and they just sat there hugging each other until Barbara and a few others arrived.

I'm really glad that Zack has Max to help him get through this, and hopefully everything would work out for them. After the ceremony, after Zack, Mom, Max, Barbara, Dad and Maddie lowered my coffin into the ground; the band started playing My Immortal. Just how I wanted it, Zack was the best brother ever.

The electric guitar solo was beautiful; Zack poured all of his feelings into it causing it to sound better than the original. "Save You "by Simple Plan was just as amazing and so was "How Could This Happen To Me". All three of those songs fit in perfectly with the atmosphere.

For the Simple Plan songs Zack played guitar and was lead singer while Max played the other guitar with him. Barbara wasn't playing in Save You though. Everything that Mom and Zack had planned for me was amazing, but I just wish Zack would notice me, it's hard getting food when no one could see you.

Throughout the whole ceremony I was in human form so I wore a black tux and stood by Zack the whole time, except when he was on stage. Earlier, Zack had given me the most breath taking and heartwarming eulogy, I actually cried while he spoke.

The event was a little over 3 hours long so it was not 4 o'clock. My grave was still uncovered when everyone had left so when I had the opportunity I climbed into the hole, opened the coffin and retrieved the two necklaces. It was weird looking at my body lying there, even though Zack and I were identical twins we didn't look exactly alike. This was like looking into a 3D mirror, I touched my cheek, it was ice cold. After I said goodbye to my lifeless corpse I closed the coffin, covered the grave and transformed so that I could get back home quicker.

When I got to the suite I put his necklace under his pillow. It was 5 pm when I looked at the clock, I was so tired that I just flopped down onto Zack's bed and let unconsciousness take over my body.


	12. Chapter 12: MOM!

Zack: MOM!

After the funeral I walked Max back to her house. We talked a bit but I didn't dare say anything that would give away my plan, honestly, I didn't even want to think about leaving Max after all those years of admiring here from a distance and finally getting her. I just pushed the thought of the plan to the back of my mind what I spent the lst few minutes with the girl I loved.

"Well, the funerals over, so I guess we don't have to practice any more, huh?" she said as she played with my fingers.

"Yeah, I bet Cody would have loved it."

"Cody.." Max;s voice sounded so far away and distant. The 3 of us had been best friends so she missed him a lot too, he was like a brother to her.

"I know how u feel, you were like a sister to him. So in a way we both lost our brother, but I lost my twin." I had noticed that we were now standing on her front porch. "_Well I guess this is goodbye_" I thought to myself.

"Yeah...he was like a brother" she replied as she leaned up towards my face and placed a soft but sweet kiss on my lips. Her eyes flutter shut, mine went wide from shock but shut soon after I calmed down. Our lips danced together, moving with each other. It was such an amazing feeling, my head started to get dizzy. Breathe...

Suddenly she pulled apart, I had gotten so caught up with the kiss that I had forgotten how late it was. "Cya tomorrow" she giggled.

"Yeah...cya" I blurted out, still slightly shocked. "I love you"

After I realized what I had just said, I left my wide-eyed girlfriend standing on her front porch as I raced back to the Tipton at an astounding speed. I had always been the confidentone around girls, but only when I had my macho man mask on. When I was just being myself I was really nervous, I didn't know if they would actually like me. And I have NEVER told a girl that I loved her before! Ever!

As I reached the hotel I decided to gsee Maddie before I left, she is one of my bestfriends, I should atleast say good bye. It was only 6pm so she was still on her shift.

"Hey sweet thaing!" I said as I leaned on the candy counter, putting on my macho man mask.

"Hi Zack!" she replied, turning around. "Wait...don't you have a girlfriend? Whats her name..um...Max?"

"Well, yeah. But you'll always be my sweet thaing" I teased back. We were only friends, well best friends and Max knows that.

"Ha ha! Ok, I see you're starting to be your old self again?" she giggled.

"Not really, it'll never be the same. I mean without Cody I'll never be the same, he;s my other half" a hint of sadness was in my voice.

"Awww...Zack, come here" Maddie said as she stepped out from behind the counter, obviously sensing the sadness.

She wrapped her arms around me and a tear rolled down my cheek. Thinking about Cody is painful for ma, honestly sometimes it's like I can still feel his presence. Sometimes I can hear his voice, feel his touch,and feel his breathe on the back of my neck. And when I look in the mirror, I always see him...never myself, even in my dreams, he's always there.

Tears were now falling freely, wetting Maddies uniform but she didn't pull back. She just held me, rocking me like how I used to when Cody was sad or had a nightmare. I'd gotten over Maddie, she's like a big sister now, especially now, when I had lost my twin...she's the sister I never had.

Finally we broke apart. "Bye Maddie, and thanks" I whispered before I turned and walked into an already open elevator.

"Bye Zack" she called back right before the elevator doors shut.

I was all panicky as I went up the elavator. I had ridden up this elevator like over a thousand times but for some reason this time I felt sorta claustraphobic. When the door parted I dashed out as fast as I could, nearly knocking over an old man, I was lucky it wasn't Moseby. I decided to climb the rest of the way, I was now on the 18 floor so I had 5 more to climb.

I had decided to say goodbye to mom beofre I left, you knever know what could happen to me if I live on the streets, I might never see her again. Maybe I'd live and manage to get a job or maybe...maybe I'll die in less than a month.

Around 5 minutes later I found myself standing outside our suite, I stared at the door trying to figure out what to say to my mother without giving away anything or making her suspicious. Taking a deep breath, I walked into the unlocked suite.

"Mom?" I called, mot seeing her on the couch or in the kitchen. "M- OH MY F***ING GOSH MOM!" My heart stopped beating when my eyes landed on the pool of glistening red liquid that seeped out from under the closed bathroom door.

"I'M COMEING MOM!" The door was locked so I backed up against the wall opposite the door, gathered all my strenght and braced myself for impact. 3...2...1...BAM! The door fell of it hinges as I ran at it, shoving it with an amazing satrenght.

The sight within the bathroom was horrifying, lying on the floor by the toilet with both her hands sliced open was my dear mother. Her face was streaked with makeup and her dress was socked with blood. Dried blood caked her fingers, parts of her face and her hair...her heart wasn't beating...

"OH MY GOD!" Even though I'm an atheist I still said oh my god...old habit. "OH..MY..GOD!" I yelled as I raced out of the room and grabbed the phone. I literally punched in Moseby's number 3 times before I got it right.

"Mr. Moseby!" I yelled into the phone. "Get your butt over here NOW! Moms bleeding furiously and her hearts not beating"

"Oh my! What happened Zack? Estaban get over here! We're on our way. Norman, abandon post and call the paramedics! Zack if u can do CPR do it now, I'll take over when I get there"

"Ok, just get here soon!"

I hung up the phone and ran to my moms side. "Ok...brace yourself Zack" I said to myself asstarted to pump her heart. 1...2...3...4...5...blow...1...2...3...4...5...blow...1...2-BANG!


	13. Chapter 13: RUN!

Cody: Run!

I woke up to the sound of the front door slamming shut, "Mom!" I heard a voice say. Zack was back. "Oh MY F***ING GOD! MOM!" Now this startled me, I jumped of the bed and ran out te bedroom door. There was a pool of blood formed on the floor seepingutfrom under the bathroom door. Zack tried to open it but it was locked so he rammed it with his shoulder. He rammed it with an amazing and almost supernatural strenght. Supernatural strenght...just like mine.

Pushing this thought to the back of my mind I racing into the bathroom with him. Our mother was lying on the floor, passed out and bleeding like hell. She wasn't breathing. "OH MY GOD!" I heard my twin yell as he ran to the phone and called Mr. Moseby. While he was yelling over the phone I checked moms heart rate. Good, still beating..it was a little off, but still beating. I decided to do a little CPR beofre Zack got back, it might help her.

I opened her mouth and blew air into it and pumped a couple of time before Zack came rushing back in, I let him take over as I ran to the phone and called 911 myself. Apparently people could still hear me.

A few seconds later the front door slammed open and Moseby and Estaban ran in. "Zack? Where-"

"Were in the bathroom, hurry, I'm scared!"

Moseby ran into the bathroom and dropped to his knees and gave mom CPR while Estaban grabbed bathroom towles and wrapped them around mom hands to stop them from bleeding. I went over to Zack and whispered in his ear "Press down hard on her hands and hold them above her head to help reduce bleeding."

He froze for a few seconds at the sound of my voice, his mind went blank and he didn't move a muscle. "GO ON! Tell him to do it or do it yourself!" i yelled in my head.

He rushed over to help them, he wrapped the towles tighter and held her arms over her head as Moseby finally got her breathing again. Estaban was on the phone again, his voice and hands shaky.

"Why did you do that Zack?" Moseby asked

"It'll help stop the bleeding"

"Good job Zack! I've got her breathing again, so all we have to do now is make sure she keeps breathing untill the paramedics come."

"Can't we do anything now? It took them forever to get to the scholl when Cody died" He winced at the memory of my dead body lying in his arms.

"Meester Moseby! Meester Moseby! Mama mia! This is a disaster!" Estaban yelled

"What's happened?" yelped Moseby

"It's the paramedics Meester Moseby! Mama mia! They are stuck in traffic. But theyre not far off, they said that someone had called before"

"How can they be stuck in traffic? They're the bloody paramedics! Tell them to use their sirens!"

"Yeah, and the light thingy's!" Zack said stupidly.

"Zack, those are the sirens!" said Moseby shaking his head in disbelief

"Whatever! Just tell them to get here quick!"

"Okie dokie, little blonde person. Use the sirens and the light thingys and get here quick!" Estaban said into the phone "Oh...they said they can't because theres traffic surrounding them on all sides and none of the lanes can be cleared."

"Oh no...tell them thats we'll drive there ourselves"

"Yes sir!" And with that Estaban ran out the suite.

"Zack" Moseby said "I'll need you to help me carry Carry to downstairs and into a taxi, I'll go get one so you stay here ok?"

Zack nodded and Moseby left too. I had a plan, it'll help get mom to the hospital quicker. "Zack" I said "Pick her up and run to the hospital! I'll help you. There;s too much traffic to go by car"

"What? Help me? Youre just a voice in my head" he thougt back.

"I'm not, trust me. Hurry, Mosebys on his way up here, take the stairs."

Listening to me , he picked up mom wih unexpected ease and half ran-half walked through the open door. We ran down the stairs straight into the lobby and ran out before anyone noticed. As we ran out into the street I helped him carry mom.

It had been a whole 7 minutes of running nonstop and I could hear Zacks thoughts which were filled with astonishment. "What's happening" I heard him think.

"It'a twin thing, I'll explain it later" I replied, watching the expression on his face.

"Great...I'm talking to myself and I can hear voices..." he thought again.

"Just shut up and run!" I yelled as I started to get a little bit annoyed with him not believeing that I'm not a just a voice in his head.

We ran for 2 more minutes untill the hospital finally ame into view, thats when we broke into a sprint. Finally rushing through the doors Zack yelled "HELP! EMERGANCY!"

Nurses who heard the cry of help came rushing towards us with a hospital bed.

"What happened?" one of the asked Zack

"She tied to kill herself, I found her bleeding in the bathroom. She wasnt breathig so I did CPR and got her breathing again after I tied up her arms."

"Good job kid, she's going to do fine" she said as we ran into a room. They hooked her up to an oxygen mask and an IV. She started to breathe more evenly and the color slowly came back to her face.

"Ok, she should be ok in a couple of hours, thanks to your quick thinking she hasn't lost much blood and you kept her heart beating so she'll be fine. But when she wakes up, try not to take what she might say to heart, they all wake up angry. I see that yyour dads not here so call him and make sure he comes to pick you up because we have to moniter you mom over night ok?"

"Huh?" I heard him say as the doctor walked away, obviously wondering about the part about our mom waking up angry.

Unfortunatly dads on tour in who knows where and we don't know how to contact him but I have a plan. Forcing telepathy, I said in my head "Get Arwin to pretend to be our dad, we don't know what they might do if they found out our parents are divorced. They might send us to live with some random relatives of ours."

"Shut up voice! I'm trying to think! And why the heck do you sound like Cody?" I heard a yell back. Great, Zack still thinks I'm just a voice in his head. Now what should I do!

Zack's phone started to ring, when Zack answered I could hear everything, event the other side of the convsation. My supernatural sensitive hearing abilities allowed me to do so.

"Zack! Where are you! Is your mother there? Is she ok?" I heard Moseby yell

"It's ok Mr. Moseby! Breathe before you hyperventilate! We're at the hospital already, moms ok but she need to stay over night"

"How did-? When did-? What! How are you at the hospital! There's a ton of traffic and it's a 15 mintues drive there on clear roads! It's only been 12 mintues since yo left!" Moseby was freaking out on the other end of the phone.

"I ran and don'ask how because I don't know either. Just get here quickly and bring Arwin, we'll need him and when you get here tell them that he's our dad"

"Oh, ok Zack. We'll be there in 10 mintues, we're already on our way"

"K, just trust me on this one Sir."

"I trust you Zack, see you there" and then he hung up.

We sat in moms room for another 10 mintues, waiting for the other to show up. Zack thought of nothing other than the sight of mom lying on the floor bleeding, but mostly of me. The way I lay bleeding on the floor, in his arms. He'd experianced the same nightmare twice in only 2 weeks, and unfortunatly those were the kind of nightmares he couldnt wake up from, they were real. I hope mom wakes up soon.

She lay unconcious on the hospital bed, her chest rising and falling was the only sign that she was alive. Her face was pale, but better than before, her hands were slightly cold too. I stood up, walked over to the bed and lay down on it, leting my unnaturally high body temporature heat her up. I also whispered in her ear, trying to wake her up with comforting words.

Mintues later Moseby and Arwin came rushing through the door. I felt moms hand shift in mine, she was waking up. No one seemed to notice because they were too busy asking Zack questions and wanting to know what was happening.

"Where am I?" mom asked in a raspy voice, startling everyone.

"Mom?" Zacks voice was barely audible.

He started to reply "At te hospital, mom yu wer-"

"WHY!" she interupted, yelling. "WHY DIDN'T YUO BRING ME HERE?"

"Mom you were ble-" Zack tried to answer again, shocked by her reaction.

"YOU SHOULD HAVE JUSTLET ME DIE!" she yelled, now sobbing openly.

Her breath smelt like alcohol, she'd been drinking. That wasn't like her.

"That;s normal behaviour for most patients who tried to commit suicide. Don't take what she's saying to heart right now, blood tests say that she has a very high level of alcohol in her blood system right now. Does she usually drink a lot?"

Everyone turned around to see the doctor standing in the doorway.

"This is normal?" Arwin asked, slightly shocked.

"Yes" she replied.

Zack had finally gathered his confidence again and said "My twin died 2 weeks ago and today was his funeral. She had started drinking out of depression after his death and had probably tried to kill herslef after she had gotten drunk after the funeral this morning"

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that. Its must be hard on you and you dad to cope with nearly 2 deaths in only 2 weeks" she said adressing Arwin as our dad.

"Well I think I'm getting the most effected over Cody's death, identical twin remember? We have a special bond, I miss him so much." His voice cracked as he spoke.

"I'm so sorry, I know you must be hurting a lot but try to help yur mother as much as you can now, she'll need someone to be there for her. Have a goodday" and with that the doctor walked out of the door.


	14. Chapter 14: Out Running the Pain Inside

Zack: Out Running the Pain Inside

Mom's words burned inside my head.

_"Why didn't you just let me die!"_

Why did she say that? Is she really willingto leave me to fend for myself at the age of 15? Does she even love anymore? All these thoughts ran through my head as I watched the doctor walk away.

"Um...Mr. Moseby, moms ok right? You'll be able to keep her alive, and make sure she doesn't try to do something like this again?" I asked, trying to hold back tears.

"Yes Zack, I promise that she'll be ok"

"Ok, I've gotta go...to the bathroom" I replied as I walked towards the door.

"Go ahead" he called back.

After I was out the door I ran as fast as I could, dodging everyone with ease and sprinted out of the hospital. It was dark out, I had no idea that time had passed so fast. I continued to run, I hadn't stopped since I thewalked out of the hospital room.

Running, just running, not tiring, not slowing...and honestly, not knowing where the hell I was going, I just let my heart do the thinking. I've never run so fast in my entire life, never for so long without tiring. The feeling of the wind rushing through your hair felt amazing! Running like this just takes all the pain away.

I cut through thick bushes, not even looking at the branches and twings that ripped through my shirt and my skin. Peice by peice the bushes tore at my clothes. They stabbed my flesh like my mother;s words stabbing my heart.

Finally running through a large clearing, dodging, and leaping over several stones, I was only wearing a vest, now covered in mud and blood from running through the bushes and falling several times. My cargo pants were ripped and cover in wet mud too.

I finally started to realized where I was, I found myself crying, ripping out tufts of grass and kneeling at someones grave...Codys...


	15. Chapter 15: Leaning On A Tombstone

Cody: Leaning on a tombstone

"Zack? Zack, where are you?" I yelled in my head. Zack had been missing for about an hour now. I could feel his emotions and the shudders that racked his body through his heavy sobs. As I tried to talk to him through telepathy I heard an agonized voice in my head yell back "Can't a guy mourn for his bead twin in PEACE! Stupid conscious!"

No one had found him yet, we were looking for over an hour now and everyone had decided to retreat back to the Tipton because it was getting late. I think I knew where to find him now. I could smell him, and I figured out where he was by what he yelled back.

I started follow the faint scent at a run, run-step I tranformed into a wolf and the scent got stronger. With my nose on the ground I ran in the direction to which the scent was leading me. After a few seconds of tracking I recognized the path and other fresh, familiar scents. He was at the graveyard!

Now running faster than I ever had, I leaped over bushes and cut through a small creek. I could smell blood...his blood, I hope hes ok. I ran through a large clearing and dodged the tombstones that scattered the lawn. I could hear my distressed other half's heart wrenching sobs.

Not only could I feel his emotions but now I could hear and see him too, seeing Zack like this just broke my heart. I could tell that he went through the same bushes that I went through because his clothes were ripped, his shirt was ripped right off his body and his beige cargo pants were now wet and stained with mud and some blood. A tear welled up in my eye at the sight of my twin crying in hysterics at the foot of my grave.

I trotted to his side and tranformed back into a human after I sat down. I wrapped my arm around him, rocking him like mom did when we were little and scared. The rocking seemed to calm him down, his violent shaking stopped and thats when he started to realize that someone was with him.

He turned his head towards me, his bloddshot eyes stared into mine. Then he turned the other way, obviously not having seen me yet. Again he turned his head towards me, this time looking harder, almost concentrating.

"Zack?" I murmered, I knew he could hear me, I knew he could feel the warmth radiating off my body. I could sense his confusion, he was scared too. Who wouldn't be? Here you are, sitting in the middle of a cemetary, in the middle of the night and then suddenly you see someone with their arms wrapped around you. And that person just happens tobe your dead brother, who you are certain is supposed to be burried right under the ground you are sitting on. I'd probably run screaming bloody murder! But there he sat, in my arms and now actually staring into my eyes.

"Cody?" I heard him whisper, it was barely audible for regular human ears. "Is this real? Is this actually happening?" He probably thought this was a dream.

"Yes Zack, it's real, I'm here, I've always been here. And I always will be here." I whispered back.

He stared at me for another few seconds, I could tell that he was thinking, so was I, what could I tell him to make him feel better?

"I'm sorry!" We said simuntaniously. I was shocked, what could he possibly be sorry for?

"I'm sorry for being such a suckish brother! I shouldn't have teased you, scared you or made you do my homework all these years! I'm sorry I took you chemistry homework! This is all my fault!" He said, bursting into tears once more.

I tightened my arms around him and pulled him closer. He cried into my chest, his breath sharp and nails ripping at the skin on my back and he held onto me for dear life.

"No Zack, I'm sorry. I've always been nagging you and telling you that your stupid. I'm sorry that I'VE been such a suckish brother to you, for telling ou that I hate you." Tears started to will in my own eyes. "I don't hate ypu, I love you, Your not just my brother, your my twin, my other half, my role model, my BEST friend! Zack, your everything to me! And you'll always come first with me!

Still sitting on my grave, Zack;s grip softened and his crying had stopped, now all I could hear was his calm, steady breathing, he cried himself to sleep.

I pulled his cellphone out to check the time, battery dead. I checked his watch, it was 11:58 PM. Mom probably was still at the hospital and Moseby probably was at the Tipton hoping tha Zack showed up. O couldntrisk anybosy seeingme take him back tthe suite so we stayed at the cemetary.

Once again, 2 weeks from the last time, he had slept in my arms. It was slightly chilly out here so Zack had curled up into a ball. I shifted over so my back lay against the headstone of my grave and then I pulled Zack up onto my chest to give his warmth. Since my body temperature was over a 110 degrees I never really got cold so I pulled off my shirt and draped it over Zacks bare legs, leaving me in my vest.

Mintues later Zack buried his face in my chest, begging for more warmth in his sleep. "Cody..." he murmered, still sleeping. I could tell that he was dreaming about us again. Not wanting to intrude in on his dream, I too let a peaceful wave of sleep wash over me.


	16. Chapter 16: You're A Werewolf?

Zack: You're a wolf?

I awoke to the sounds of soft snores and the feeling of someones warm breathe tickle my skin. Being slightly afraid, I didn't open my eyes but tried to remeber what had happened last night. I remembered finding mom, the voice, running to the hospital, the voice again, mom screamingher head off, running to the graveyeard and then the voice rest? Yes, I could remeber, or was that a dream? How could it be real? Maybe someone was playing a trick on me, paying back for all the pranks I played on other people.

I felt something shift under me, I was too afraid to open my eyes and letwhatever it was know that I was awake. Now I felt a hand reach up to my head and start stroing my hair...what was happening?

"I know you're awake, I can hear your thoughts" a voice said, that voice! "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you"

"Is this real?" I asked, keepingmy eyes shut. "When I open my eyes will I see yu? Or is this just a vision, am I going crazy?" My voice came out in a whisper.

"Yes, you could see melast night so I'm pretty sure that you'll be able to see me mow." the voice whispered in my ea, still stroking my hair. "Please Zack? Jusr open your eyes" It begged.

"Prove it to me!" I said, my voice sounding a little more confident "Prove to me thats you're my brother"

"Why wouldn't it be me? Who else could it be?" It asked

"I don't know! Just prove it to me!" I snapped back, sligtly annoyed now.

"Ok, how?" the voice asked, in an amuzed tome.

"What happens after Cody or I has a nightmare?" No one else knew that, just Cody and I, not even mom.

"If I have a nightmare you usually come into my bed and hold me while I cry and promise me that you'll fight away every monster if I have the dream again."

"And?" I prompted.

"And if you have a nightmare I get into your bed, hold you and promise that I'll confuse all the monsters with my super nerdy powers. And after I said that you'd always giggle and fall asleep again" he laughed a bit at the end. How I missed hearing hat laugh, now I was positive that it was really him and not a vision!

Slowly, I opened my eyes. "Cody?" I stared at my twin in ashonishment "You're real..."

"Yes Zack, I'm here" he replied, tears welled up in both our eyes.

I threw my arms around him and pulled him into a bear hug, he returned it with an even more bonecrunching one.

"Can't breathe!" I managaed to croak out, as he hugged me. "Jesus! When did you get so strong?" I asked after he softened his grip on me.

"Sorry, I'll explain later" he chuckled

"Ugh, I missed you so much bro."

"Really? I thougt you were too caugt up with your new girlfriend" he teased as he pulled back, releasing me from his embrace.

"How did you know that?"

"I was watching you this whole time, I tried communucateing with you sometimes, but you thought I was your conscience"

"So that was you?"

"Yeah"

I can't believe he's actually here! What had happened? I'm pretty sure he died in my arms 2 weeks ago and that i lowered his body into the very grave that I was sitting on.

"Cody? What happened? How are you here, your supposed to be dead and burried like, here!" I asked as I gestured to the ground.

"Well, my body's still down there, but I don't think I'm a ghost. And what had happened before I died 2 weeks ago, probably had something to do with whats happening to me right now"

"What exactlys is happening to you?" I asked, curious to see where this was going.

"I'll get to that. You see, right before I died I felt like I was drifting away from my body and right after I told you to take care of mom I felt myself completly dettach from my body. I could see you and my dead body on the floor infront of me, it was like I was a wittness of my own death."

"So where were you this whole time? And why are you only wearing a vest? It's so cold out here!" I had finally noticed his lack of a shirt.

"I don't get cold anymore, my body temperature is like, over a 110 degrees. My shirt is around your legs because you got cold last night."

"Wow."

"Yeah, and I was with you this whole time. I walked home with you the day I died, i was with you when you stood out in the rain. I kept you warm that same night when you were curled up on the couch and I was with you during my funeral...wow that sounded weird!" he exclaimed

"What sounded weird?"

"Who ever gets to attend their own funeral? Ha ha!"

"Oh yeah. Ha! Wow...this is crazy bro. That explains all those times I thought I saw you and those voices I heard. All those times when I'd felt a random wave of heat and someone touching me! It was you the whole time!" Finally, this makes sense!

"It doesn't end there, Zack. We can read each other's mind too, we've got telepathy and theres a reason why my body temperature is so high. I'm not normal anymore" Cody's voice had a tone of excitment. What did he mean?

"What do you mean? Clearly you arn't normal anymore, you're supposed to be dead but here you are walked with the living!"

"I mean, I've got special powers, Zack. And I think you might have some too"

"Huh?" What the heck is this guy talking about? Special powers are meant to be in books, comics and movies. Real people don't have powers.

"As I said, I can read your mind, and I think you can read mine too. Thats only one of the powers"

"I can read your mind too?"

"Probably, I think it's twin telepathy. We're likem identical twins with supernatural powers."

"What exactly are our powers?"

"I don't know about yours, or if you have any but I'll show you mine." he said with a grin.

Cody gently moved me off of his unnaturally warm body and stood up. "It works faster if I'm running" he said as he started to jog in circles.

Slowly his pace quickened and the circles grew larger. Faster and faster he ran, now almost a blur. I could feel a tinge of uncalled for anger build in me, probably the telepathy, but what is he angry about? And then suddenly, jus like in my dream, I felt an excruciating pain and fell to my knees, clutching my aching head. The pain faded as quickly as it came.

A flash of bright light appeared where Cody had been and as I opened them, my eyes landed on a ginormous, blonde wolf...

"Cody?" I whispered in awe.


	17. Chapter 17: Keep It A Sceret

Cody: Keep it a Secret

I let my controlled anger take over my body as I made the change. The familiar flash of white light came and I felt my paws hit tw ground, but thats when I heard a loud and unfamiliar thud come from behind

"Cody?" I heard my brother say, his mouth fropped in awe, he was sitting on the ground. Maybe that was the thud...eh!

"What do yu think?" I asked through telepathy, with one of those dopey, dog grins on my face.

"W-woah! Wow! How did you- When did you- Wha!" Zack freaked out as he scrambled to his feet.

"Are you going to finish any of those question?" I joked.

Still in shock and pointing at me in disbelief, he stutered "H-How did you DO that?"

Istarted to trotver to him, but obviously being scared he took a step back. "You're scared..."I whispered in my head, this was more of a statement than a question.

"No! I'm just being cautious, you might have animal instincts and do something dangerous" He defended himself, still holding back.

"I'm not going to hurt you, the most I'll do t you is lick you to death. I can controll these instincts, it's kinda like a gear shift. And I only use it when I'm hunting..." Still he held back, eyeing me. "Aw, come on Zack! It;s still me, it justhat I look like a wolf. You can read my mind for godsakes!"

Its saddened me, the fact that he couldnt trust me, my own twin couldn't trust me. Suddenly, his eyes widened, obviously hearing what I had thought to myself. "Ofcourse I trust you" He said out loud this time. "It's just that...I was...I was scared ok! I was scared! I'm afraid of wolves and wild cats and dogs!" He yelled, his voice cut through the air.

I cocked my head to the side like dogs usually did when they were confused "Scared?" Zack was never scared, well except that one time when Maddie, Arwin, Estaban, London and I pulled that ghost prank on him.

"Yeah, I've always been scared of wild dogs and big cats, I never showed it but thats why I always stayed far away from teir cages in the zoo when we were little."

Finally realizing hat he was being serious, I transformed back into a human. Looking back at all those times at the zoo, I'd never really understood why Zack was always awkward and jumpu around those cages I was to excited because I love those kind of animals. "Zack, why didn't you tell me this before?" I asked, I was hurt...I thought we swore to tell each other everything, I mean, I told him everything. I started to walk towards him, he started towards me too.

His eyes were watery, he to remebered that we swore to tell each other everyhting. I could tell that he was sorry he broke the promise. "It's ok Zack, I'm not mad at you for not telling me, just a little hurt" I whispered in his ear as he held onto me, his tears dampening my vest.

"I'm sorry." he said, his voice muffled by my chest.

"It's ok, everyone's afraid of someting." And with that I reached into my pocket and pulled out something.

"The necklaces..."he exclamined when he saw them "How did you get them?"

"I was at the funeral remember? I was sitting next to you in wolf form when you were talking to me so I saw you putting them in my coffin. No one had burried me after the funeral and everyone was gone so I jumped into the hole, grabbed the necklaces and covered the grave." I handed him his necklace and I put mine around my neck. "What plan were you talking about anyways"

"I'll explain that later. Codes, we should tell mom that your still here, you know that your not dead."

"I've been thinking about that and I don't think she should know, I don't know why , but I've got a gut feeling that we shouldn't tell her."

"Why? She's our mother!" Zack was shocked at my decision.

"It's just a gut feeling and those are usually right, so until we know more about my situation you should tell nobody, well except Max. I've got a gut feeling about her too, she should know."


	18. Chapter 18: Back to the Tipton

Zack: Back to the Tipton

"I know Max's my girlfriend and all but I don't get you she must know and mom should be kept in the shawdows about her own son" I said, slightly confused.

"I've just got a feeling that she should know and mom shouldn't"

"But what will you do for food and clothing?" I asked "Maybe...we could run away together! I could get a job and..."

"No..." he interupted. "I'll hunt, I've been doing that for the past 2 weeks and I'll use the clothes I have at home. But you'll have to tell mom that you've been using them because she mightget suspicious when she sees them in the washer" He'd obviously given this a lot of thought. "Oh and the running away thing? Was that part of te plan you were talking about?"

Oh great, he'd figured out my plan, now t be bombarded with jokes...but they never came. Cody's eyes looked distant, he was staring at the now rising sun. His mind was completely blank, all he did was stare into the horizon.

"Let'gs go" I said as I tugged on his arm. "Moseby's completely freaked out by now."

We headed down the path, out of the cemetary togt back to e Tipton. Silence, it was early in the morning so no one was out. Even the birds wern't awake. Cody had been thinking about what had happened the previous day at the hospital. Scenes of mom yelling played through both our heads as I read his mind.

Breaking the silence I said "I can't believe she said that stuff yesterday. Jow could she even think about leaving me?"

"Zack, she didn't mean that" he spoke up after what seemed like, forever. "She had a very high level of alcohol in her blood system remember?"

"I hope your right, Broseph" I sighed, I felt kind of relieved after he said that. "Cody?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm scared, what if she tries to do it again? What if we don't get to her in time and she looses too much blood? What if she died?" I was starting to hyperventilate, tears started to build in my eyes and my breath was sharp and shallow.

In a flash, I felt Cody's arms wrap themselves around me again, rocking me gently. I felt his hot breath in my ear. This is one of the greatest things about having a twin, you always have someone to comfort you, someone that you can talk to and trust. Us identical twins share a special bond that no other set of multiples or siblings can experiance.

My twin, my brother, my best friend and my gaurdian, he will always be there for me and I will always be there for him. "Don't worry Zack, it'll be ok and if anything does happen, I'll be there to stop it. I'll always protect you. You'll be a legal adult in a few years anyway and by then you'll be able to stand on your own feet, but I'll still always be there for you." My suprisingly strong twin continued to whisper comforting words to me untill I calmed down.

"Are you ok now Zack? he asked.

"Yeah, I'm god now. Thanks for being there for me"

"That's what best friends are for" he smiled as he unwrapped his arms from around me.

This time instead of walking back to the hotel, we both raced each other to the Tipton. We playfully pushed and tackled each other on the grassy sidewalk. We played like we were 10 again, we played like we were little wolf cubs, except-for the first time ever, Cody was much stronger than me.

Our pace slowed as we got to he front steps of the hotel. I shot a nervous glance at my brother who returned with knowing glance and then braced myslef as I pushed the revolving door.


	19. Chapter 19: FIA POWA!

Cody: Firepower!

Zack gave me a nervous glance, knowing exactly how Moseby was going to react, I returned it with a knowing look. We braced ourselves and walked into the hotel.

"Zack!" excalimed Moseby as he jumped off the couch that he shared with a sleeping Maddie and Estaban. "Where have you been? You're mother's worried sick!"

"Yeah, like she cares!" Zack scoffed, he still thougt that mom meant to kill herself and leave him to fend for himself. "And by the way, I went to my dead twins grave and cried myself to sleep there"

"What happened to yor clothes and why wern;t you answering your cell phone?" Asked a worried/angry Moseby "Your a mess! And it was cold last night, are you sick?"

"I ran through bushes and a stream on my way to the cemetary. And I was pretty warm thanks!" He replies in a bitte tone. Why was he being mean to Moseby?

"Oh Zack everyones been so worried about you"

"Hmph! Sure! What about what mom said huh? What about that? SHE obviously didn'tcare if I was missing or not!" At this piont Zack was yelling, I tried to calm him down, but to no avail.

"Zack, shush! You'll wake the guests!" said Moseby in a sort of half whisper-half yell "She didn't mean it! Didn't you hear what the doctor said?"

"Zack!" I said throug telepathy. "Zack! Quit the arguing and come upstairs with me, you need to get freshed up"

"Sigh...sorry Moseby but can we PLEASE have this discussion later? I need some time to myself after this messup" Zack said, in response to my telepathic message.

"Oh alright!" Maddie, take Zack up to his room an-"

"Moseby, I'm not 11 anymore! I'm 15! I can get to my room myself."

"Fine...Zack, I expect you to be down here in the lobby at 6 pm. Were going to get your mother from the hospital and yu need to be there"

"Yeah, whatever." And with that he sprinted up the stairs and into the elevator.

I followed him in "Zack" I said as the doors closed. "Mom DIDN'T mean what she said, and please don't take your anger out on Moseby. Take it out on me if you really need to, I don't feel pain anymore."

"Ok, but I'll only beat you up if I really feel liek it." he sighed and giggled at the same time.

"See if you can, I have have superstrenght now remember? Fire power!" I teased as I lifted my arms into the "Firepower" position.

"Ha! Yeah, I guess I don't want to get on your bad side now bro" we walked out of the elevator still teasing each other.

Zack immediately went to the bathroom to take a shower, so I just lay on my bed and filled our heads with happy memories.


	20. Chapter 20: My Sweet Life W Max & Cody

Zack: My Sweet Life With Mack and Cody

"What!"Max hald-spoke half-yelled. "Are you crazy boy? How can he be standing right infront of me?"

Cody and I were at Max's house and I had told her about Cody situation, she obviously couldn't see him and by the was she's eyeing me she probably thinks I should be sent to a mental institute.

"Should I be worried about you Zack?" she asked.

See what I mean! My girlfriend tried to reason with me. Max had told me that I'd probably seen a reflection of myself or it was just my imagination but I reasoned back. "Look Max, if he wasn't really here why would I tell you he was? Look, I'm tickling him!" I explained as I reached toward my "invisible" twins stomach.

"Ha ha! Stop Zack!" Cody laughed as I used his biggest weakness against him.

"OH MY GOD!" Max gasped "I heard a voice! I think I-"

"You think you heard him? Yes, you did hear him. Max, give me your hand" I said as I got an idea.

Max slowly reached out and placed one delicate hand in my outstreached plam. I slowly guided it to Cody's shoulder and placed there. "Oh my gosh." she gasped as she slughtly pulled her hand away from the unnaturally warm shoulder. "What's that, why's it hot?" she asked as slowly put her hand back on his shoulder.

"It's Cody. Can you see him yet?" I asked.

"I don't know"

"Look harder Max" Cody said softly. "Your staring right at me"

Max leaned closer, squinting er eyes, tryingto concentrate on the invisible figure infront of her. "Cody?" her voice was barely audible. "Oh my god Cody! I missed you so much!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck.

"Ha! You can see me! I missed you too buddy!" he laughed as he hugged back.

"Yo, Codes, don't get too comfortable, she's my girlfriend remember?" I teased as I joined in on the hug.

"Yeah, but she is my best friend remember?"

"Then what am I?" I whined, teasingly.

"Your my brother, my twin, my rock and my other half...well you are my best friend too" He explained.

"Awww!" Max said as she pulled back, and hugged Zack.

"Thanx bro, your all that and much more to me too. Promise that you won't ever leave us like that again"

"I promise" he said, grabbed me into a bear-or should I say wolf, hug.

"Get over here Max!" I laughed, grabbing my giggling girlfriend.

Seconds later we found ourselves rolling on the ground flinging pillows at each other, we were all in hysterics and all was well...for now...


End file.
